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Hellcat Squadran: Resurgence
Katalena Alone "Calm...calm...breathe..." She cooed to the man who had allowed her refuge in his house the night prior. She stroked the side of his face in more of a motherly fashion than a seductive one. "Forget my face." She whispered and he slowly drifted off to sleep. She swept from his house and stepped outside, pulling her hood over her face. She slipped into the never ending Coruscant crowds and disappeared from any observer's sight. She kept walking, only stopping to avoid getting run over by speeders. She wasn't even sure why she walked. All she knew was that she needed the solitude that came with the crowd, the knowledge that none who surrounded her cared to identify her. She kept walking, trying to piece together some of the answers she needed. She sighed as no answers came to mind, and, regrettably, came to a stop as traffic got in the way. A voice sounded from one of Coruscant's many screens, booming over the others. A news segment. "This just in, Hybrid representative Quinn Marshall has gone missing." She froze and stared up at the screen. "Following the retirement of Morrigan Sigurdson and the recent disappearance of Katalena Akulov, the stand in representative Quinn Marshall, brother of Akulov, has vanished as well. Replacement stand ins Vivien McIntyre and Mason Young have stated that all efforts are being made to try and locate the missing Hybrid leaders, though so far, no results of note have occurred." Katalena sighed and pulled the scarf over her face. The last thing she needed was her face on the news board. She walked over to a nearby bench and sat down, coming to realize how exhausted she was becoming. ''Idiot is probably looking for me.'' She thought. ''I told him to leave me be. Even Jace respected it when I asked him, why can't he?'' She pushed the thoughts aside and ignored them for the moment. She gazed up at the news screen and listened to the reporters discuss the Oken War incidents. She sighed and ignored them. ''We're at the height of our power right now. Myself, Jace, Viv, Mason, Quinn, there isn't a lot on this plane capable of stopping us. Only outsiders and Keryn are threats anymore...so why am I scared?'' She realized she was twirling her dark hair and stopped immediately. It was an old habit for her to do so while lost in thought, and she didn't want something like that to give her away. She cursed the memories of when the outsiders' experiments had caused her to go blonde. However, one change they had made to her was permanent in that much of her inner chaos had vanished. It was easily the more difficult of the changes in her life since the Oken War began to adjust to. While her personalities had merged in the years before, the chaos had remained a part of her and a large source of her power for many years. She had found that it was difficult to use her abilities even while the Harton-Erachi had modified her. Now, she felt useless. The power she once harnessed was all but gone, the wide range of abilities she once had was limited to only a few basic spells and manipulations. She could remove mild memories and push things and float things, but power she once wielded to cause the air to explode or rip a starship out of the sky. And, for the life of her, she could not find an alternate source of power within her. ''Maybe that's what I'm looking for out here. Something to help me get my power back.'' "Have you heard of what's been happening in the hybrid alienage?" A voice said not far from her. She tuned in immediately. "They've been rebelling against security forces, talking nonsense about the government degrading them." Katalena rose and walked over to the source of the voices, moving to stand by an advertising board and pretending to be interested as she listened to the two voices. A Neimoidian and a Volus were the conversationalists. "Why are the Skulblaka-clan people rebelling? Is it not enough we've given them a home?" The Volus said in between wheezes of his suit's breathing systems. "They complained for weeks that they were forced into the alienage." "And now they mock our security? When will these people learn?" Katalena had heard enough. She watched as the screen went dark in front of her, allowing her to see her reflection. Her eyes were glowing red once again. ''It's no chaos, but this anger will do for now.'' She thought and turned to ask directions to the alienage, pulling a pair of goggles over her eyes. ---- It was midnight, and the lights of Coruscant acted as a second sun for those who were awake. Nearly every building was illuminated, lighting up the air around it, causing darkness to nearly not exist. Only three buildings in the whole city were dark. A pair of five floor buildings and a single seven floor building, constructed away from the rest of the buildings. A perimeter of a kilometer and a half went around the trio of buildings, signalling to any who saw it that the buildings were a place to avoid. There were no signs saying what the location was, but any who lived on Coruscant knew that the buildings were the Hybrid Alienage. After Katalena had vanished and Morrigan had retired, Hybrid relations took a significant decline on Coruscant. Local leaders of the Hybrid communities had been at odds with the other leaders of the Coalition on Coruscant, and the end result was an alienage being built to house the Hybrid community. At first, it was a voluntary alienation, but slowly, the Hybrid families who had not elected to move into the alienage at first began vanishing from their homes, and people began moving immediately. Rumors circulated about what had happened to the Hybrids who refused to go even then, but all that was known was that they had never been seen again. Katalena put down the news tablet. To most it would be a stretch to call the tablet more than a tabloid, but she knew that there was definitely some truth in what she had just read about the alienage. The transport came to a halt, at least a kilometer from the buildings. "This is as far as I'm taking you, ma'am." The driver, a despondent looking Turian said. "That'll be thirty cre-" He drifted off to sleep with a wave of her hand. She stepped off the transport and started walking along the metal ground towards the buildings. As she grew nearer, she felt a strange feeling of unease come over her. It was like she was being watched by a hundred invisible eyes. She kept walking, and with every step she took she felt more and more uneasy. It was a feeling that grew until she reached a small metal gate. A lone young man, couldn't have been older than twenty, was sitting with his feet on a desk in a small security booth. "Name?" He asked her, gazing at her with strange, piercing orange eyes. "Wanda." She said. "Wanda who?" He replied. "Barton." She said, and quickly clued in on the feeling of unease. It wasn't that a hundred eyes had been following her, only two, and that this guard's power allowed him to see everything around him in extreme detail and could easily have seen her coming a kilometer away. ''It's not the best power, but surely useful for these peoples' purposes.'' She thought. "And why are you here, Miss Barton?" The guard asked. "Do you have friends or family in the alienage?" "I'm here to help." She replied. "Help who?" "Everyone here." She said. "Any why would you care?" The guard replied. She snapped her fingers and the gate opened. "Why wouldn't I?" She said and walked into the alienage. In between the three buildings was a small courtyard, where a set of old, broken fountains could be seen and a couple of broken VIs could be heard sputtering nonsense. Two children who had once been playing were frozen and staring at her. She slowly raised a hand and waved, and they quickly ran into one of the five floor buildings. She sighed and walked over and sat down on a bench next to the useless fountain, and she waited. No one came out to greet her, even the guard went to one of the buildings and pretended she wasn't there. She sat there until night had fallen, only then did anything happen. A gunship came down and ten security guards jumped out. They walked over to her, and even with her weakened senses, she knew that they were of less than friendly intent. "Woman, curfew after dark, start walking." "Where to?" "Your apartment." "I can't." "Then you'll walk to prison." "I can't because I don't have an apartment to walk to." She replied. "Then you're coming with us." "No, I'm not." She replied, and each guard leveled their guns at her. With her powers the way they were, there was no way that she would be able to deflect one, let alone ten, blaster bolts at once. "On your feet." One of them ordered, and she stood up. A guard reached back and pulled her hood back, allowing her dark hair to cascade down over her shoulders. Then, he pulled the goggles off, and the guard in front of her jolted back in horror. She held up a hand and brought one of the weapons to her hand. She broke it over her knee and looked up at the leader. She held a lone finger up to her lips. "Run." She whispered, and the squad ran back to their ship and flew away. She sat back down and pulled her hood up, counting how long it would take for the hybrids to come out of their apartments now that the security forces were gone. It was about thirty minutes before a lone, elderly man walked out to greet her. "Thank you, ma'am." He said as he reached her. She rose to her feet and nodded. "Without your intervention it would be likely that they began kicking doors in." "Why?" She asked. "Have you done anything to provoke them?" "No. It's just been this way since the alienage was...unofficially made mandatory." He replied. "Why? What do they do?" She asked. "Intimidate, mostly. Take things every now and then. Only one beating, but it was...savage, shall we say?" "I see. That didn't look like public security, who was it?" She asked. "It's a private company that was enlisted to watch over the surrounding area. They say they're interested in the large district area, but everyone knows they just want to police us." The old man said. "You should run." He said after a few moments. "Why?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "There's a good chance that they'll come back for you in force. My people will swear they saw nothing, but you should make for the city." "What would happen to you?" She asked. "They'd take it out on you. I can't let that happen." "What would you suggest we do? We can't fight them." "With all due respect, why the hell not?" She asked. "Their armor is made from Skulblakan metal." He replied, and Katalena cursed. "Tell me what you know about the security force." She said. "Private company, headed by an older fellow. His son is the field commander, so we're well acquainted with him here. Family owns a Skulblakan metal mine, so all their men are outfitted with it." "Damn. Still, I can't leave and let you take the punishment. If they come back, I'll turn myself over." "I...can't ask you to do that, but know that you would do my community a great service if you did." "I know." "Thank you, miss...?" "Barton, but please, call me Wanda." Katalena said. "I suppose we can find you an empty house, Wanda. You're welcome at the wedding tomorrow, if you are interested." "You have weddings here?" She said with a smile. "Yes. A young couple is marrying tomorrow. We may not have a lot to be happy about in the alienage, but we find joy in things like this." "I agree." She said with a smile. "I'll be there." "I know the couple will appreciate it. Come, I'll show you to an apartment." He said and began to walk her into one of the buildings." The elder walked her to the largest building and took her into an elevator. When the door opened, a small, modest apartment room lay before her. "The wedding is at noon tomorrow." He said as she walked inside. "I guess we'll see you then." "Thank you." She said and the elevator door closed. She walked over to the bed and removed her jacket and hung it on the side of the bedframe. She kicked her boots into a corner of the room, undressed, and changed into a set of simple sleepwear she'd packed. ''God damn it. Skulblakan metal. Of course they have Skulblakan Metal.'' She thought as she lay down on the bed and began to stare at the ceiling. ''Even with that temporary burst of rage, there's no way I could take down their armor. I'm just lucky they were scared off when they were. Damn it, I'm useless to these people. To my people now. It's a good thing Viv and Mason are leading, I'd be less than useless as a figurehead. It's a good thing I had Jace show me some unarmed combat.'' She thought. ''What the hell can I do for them?'' She thought. ''What the hell can I do for anyone?'' ---- She woke up the next morning and slipped back into her day clothes and put her sleep clothes in her bag. She slipped the back over her shoulders and slipped her hood up. She made her way to the door and called the elevator. When the door opened, there were three Hybrid children standing inside. They had all been talking, but they grew silent the moment she stepped inside. "You going outside?" She asked gently. They nodded. "Me too." She said with a smile. "Will you be at the wedding today?" "My sister's the bride." One of the kids said. "You must be really happy for her." Katalena said. "Yeah." The kid said. There was a moment of silence before one of the other children spoke up, a young boy. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?" "I have a sister and a brother." Katalena said. "What are they like?" "My brother is really nice. Funny guy, bit annoying at times, but he'd have my back in a second." Katalena said, smiling as she remembered Quinn was coming to look for her. "Stubborn though, doesn't listen to a word you say." "What about your sister?" The boy asked, and her face fell slightly. "I haven't seen her for a while." Katalena said. "She got married too, but she lost her husband and became super sad. She moved away." "That must have made your parents sad." The boy said. "My Dad doesn't get along with us." Katalena said slowly. "And I never knew my mother." To her surprise, the young boy came up to her and hugged her legs. She crouched down so she was eye level with him and gave him a gentle embrace back. "What was that for?" She asked. "Everybody needs a mom." He said. "But you'll be better, right?" "Maybe." Katalena said with a small laugh. "My boyfriend and I haven't reached that stage." She added as the door opened. "Bye!" The children said as they ran to find their friends. She walked past the group of children and heard them talking to each other. "I think she's an angel." "Do angels have boyfriends?" "He must be a demon or something." Katalena had to cover her face with her hand to hide her grin at the child's assumption as she moved to the courtyard, which had been decorated to host the entire community. She found the groom quickly and approached him. "Ah, hello." He said. He was a slender, sandy haired youth, couldn't have been older than twenty. "I wanted to thank you for what you did last night. It wouldn't have been good for the wedding if one of our apartments had been ransacked." "It's no trouble." She said with a smile. "I'm just happy to be of use." "More than that." He said. "I think you inspired a lot of people." He said. "I need to run, thank you for coming today." He said and went to join his groomsmen. Kata found her way to a seat, from which she would proceed to watch the ceremony commence. Despite the happy circumstances, Katalena couldn't help but notice a feeling of deep unease building within her. It was different from the feeling of unease she developed as she approached the alienage, this instead was a feeling of foreboding. Something was going to happen, and she was terrified of what it might be. After the ceremony had concluded, she was proven right. She heard a ship land outside the alienage and panic immediately gripped her. Most of the hybrids were distracted by the noise of the soon commencing wedding celebrations, and didn't realize what was happening until it had already happened. A large squad of heavily armored soldiers marched in, there was almost forty of them. All armed to the teeth with weaponry she'd never seen before. As soon as they arrived in the square, the Hybrids fell silent and stared on in horror. One soldier walked forward. He was an incredibly tall young man, almost seven feet without a doubt, and he had a rather amused look on his face. "So. I hear you decided to fight back?" He said loudly. "I thought we'd made it clear that we are more than authorized authority figures here, and that to fight us is to attack the side of the law." Katalena noticed a small smile on his face, even from the distance between them, and a feeling of burning, intense hatred welled up within her. "You know what the punishment is going to have to be." He said and raised a hand. "Wait." Katalena said, walking forward. She slowly raised both of her hands to the air and moved towards the squad. "I am the one who fought your men last night. My actions were my own and not a reflection of any here. Take me away, and leave them be." She called over, slowly and clearly. The man started walking towards her. "A noble gesture, madam." He said as they continued to draw near one another. "I suppose that if what you say is true, then taking you into custody would be the only reasonable course of action, no?" "That is true." She replied. "I suppose a witness would be good, though." The man said. "Calen, you were there, is what she said true?" "No, sir." A guard in the squad said. "They all attacked us while we were on patrol." "Very well." The man said, and then an armored fist hit Katalena underneath the chin and she was sent flying through the air. She crashed into the fountain, her head hitting the stone as she slumped across it, unconscious. ---- Her eyes shot open and she looked around. She was in a small cell, two or three other women from the alienage huddled in the corner. She slowly rose to her feet and stretched. She massaged her nose and groaned. "Quiet." One of the women said. "They just took Rose and it's only a matter of time before they grab us." Immediately, Kata could feel that anger inside that had helped her before. "Just...take it so we can go home." One of the other women whispered as the door opened. Three guards walked in. "Why don't you grab the brave one now, eh?" One said, gesturing to Katalena. She responded by raising her hand and pulling the men in, feeling that old, familiar rush of power once again. She closed a fist and two of the men began to vibrate intensely until their skeletons phased through their tissues and they slumped to the floor. Kata pulled the last one against the bars of the cage, holding him in place. She could see her reflection in the visor of his helmet and let out a long, tired sigh. In the wake of her sabbatical, she'd used what little power she'd had left to change her face so nobody would recognize her. She sighed and realized the time for hiding had long past as she raised her glowing red hand to her face. The guard made a small noise that sounded like a whimper as she removed her hand. She clenched her fist again and his head shit down into his torso. She turned to the women, who stared at her in shock. "Run." She said, and snapped her fingers, sending the door exploding off it's hinges. She started walking through the prison and quickly surmised they were in a firebase of some form. ''Guess the big boss would be the one to check if they're raping my people.'' She thought and started making her way to his quarters. The floors and walls ran scarlet that night with the blood of any who dared to stand in her way. She lost count of how many men she struck down, but she didn't even care after a certain point. All that there was was the endless rage and bloodlust, the fury and the desire to punish these infidels. Her red vision only cleared when she arrived at the quarters of the commander. She shoved the door open and stepped inside. The hybrid woman lay dead on the floor, while the commander and one guard stood before her, looking surprised. She raised a single hand and watched the guard shoot himself in the throat. "Now now." The commander said. "I believe we can talk this over." "Oh?" She asked. "Is that so? Tell me, when you look at me, what are you seeing now?" "Someone angry and desperate for help, something I can give." He replied, looking smug. "No. You look at me and you see Katalena Valeriya Akulov." She replied. His eyes widened. "And if you know anything about me-" She raised her hand. "-then you know I do not, as you so eloquently put it, talk things over." She swiped her hand through the air and watched as he began to age until all that was left was dust. She picked up the body of the dead hybrid and swept from the room. ---- She stood and watched as the funeral ended for the dead woman. She sighed. ''Waste of life.'' She thought. ''Waste of possibility, waste of talent, just...such a waste.'' She was trying to control her temper at that moment. When she was younger, she would have carved into the Coruscant main city for the simple fact that her people were forced into the alienage. "Thank you, milady." The alienage's elder said from behind her. She turned to face him. "You brought home those girls alive, and brought this one home to rest. For that, you have my gratitude, and that of the alienage." "You don't need to thank me." She said. "I just did what any hybrid would." "No, you stood out with this one. That was an act of rebellion. Maybe not against the highest of powers, but you rebelled and you ignited a fire that has never graced this alienage before. I see the young and they are inspired." A small smile crossed his face. "That is something new to all of us." Katalena was quiet for a long moment. "I should leave." She said eventually. "Why?" "I am weakened. Severely. I can only use my power in short bursts depending on the situation. If retaliation comes, I couldn't protect you. All I could do is lead them away." "No, milady. This alienage, and the hybrid population of Coruscant, stands with you now. If that means war comes to our doorstep, so be it." He said, with such vigor that it took her by surprise. She looked over her shoulder and saw that the alienage was watching them converse. She let out a long sigh and closed her eyes. When they opened, they had that old scarlet burn within them. "Ok. Shall we begin?" She asked, and a cheer from the hybrid crowd filled the air. Search and Rescue "Sir, you have someone...very impatient wanting to talk to you to vidcom." A soldier said to Jace. With Kata away, he was living on Bastion with the rest of Zeta Wing temporarily. "Patch it through." Jace replied. The soldier did so, and immediately a hologram of Quinn appeared. "One day I will learn how to run through space." Quinn quipped. "Good luck with that." Jace said. "What's going on?" "So, you see the news lately?" Quinn asked. "I'm on an uncharted planet, so no." Jace said. Quinn quickly linked him to a news hologram. Most of the playing stories were about several possible sightings of Kata at the center of a hybrid uprising on Coruscant. "You cannot be fucking serious." Jace said. "I'm on a ship to Coruscant right now to find out. I doubt this is a rerun of back in the day, there's more to this." "It can't be a rerun, if it is...things are going to hell." "I'll find out what's happening. I'm a reporter, I'm good at that." Quinn said. "True. Let me know ASAP if I need to come by." Jace said. "No offense, man, but you might just scare her off." "If things are dangerous I don't care about that." Jace said. "I'd be there to calm people down and keep people safe." "To be honest, I think I'd have a better shot at that if I called Morri out of retirement." Quinn said. "Whatever you say, man. Let me know if I should be there, but the choice is mine if it goes bad." "Alright." Quinn said. "You know, as long as you live, she probably won't go full insurgent." "I'll try not to die then." "Just saying, you're the only one that can make her feel shame or guilt, really." "She'll get a load of that when I see her again." Jace said darkly. "Wait til the reporter has the story straight before you publish, JJJ." Quinn said. "I know, kid." Jace said. "Well, sorry if I killed your sleep tonight, but I better get to it." "Good luck, Ruskie." "I don't need luck, American." Quinn said. "But thanks." "Take the sentiment." "Oh, a riot on the ground. Coruscant is lovely, isn't it?" Quinn sighed as the transmission ended. Rhett walked over to his commander. "What was that about?" "Possible hybrid uprising on Coruscant. Quinn is going in to get more info." "Damn, just when we got a good name." Rhett sighed. "We going in, sir?" "Not yet. We'll see. Until then, we work here." Jace said. ---- Quinn sprinted through the door and into the midst of the chaos of the riots. Signs were everywhere, either displaying slogans against the hybrids or something declaring support for them. He moved throughout the crowd, taking care to not touch anyone. At speed, he was completely unnoticeable. No one could see him as he moved about the crowds, learning all there was to know about the local situation. Quinn Alone Beginnings Inquisition Allegiances Shock and Horror Akulov